By Marcia Smith

　　The Orange County Register

　　The best example of a professional basketball player right now is an import, a quiet man called "Little Giant" as a child growing up in Shanghai, surrounded by 17 million people and playing basketball 7,000 miles and 13 times zones away from the NBA.

　　Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets' All-Star center, stands 7-foot-6. He weighs 310 pounds, with a tree-trunk torso, a backside like a Ford Expedition and size 18 Nikes embroidered with "Yao" on their leather tongues.

　　He is a giant in size, looming tall in Asia where the average size of a Chinese man is 5 foot, 6 inches. And he is a great Chinese basketball player, one of only three - Wang Zhi Zhi and Mengke Bateer were the others - to play in the NBA.

　　But Yao knows that in his homeland, strongly shaped by the values of Eastern philosophy, true greatness never has been determined by one's ability to dunk a basketball or shatter a backboard.

　　Outside of sports, the sports-hero-worshipping West and on the other side of the world, you are respected for your humility not your hops; your open heart not your open mouth; your character more than your celebrity and who you are as a person, not as a personality.

　　Education, balance in life, honor, respect for family, generosity to others, hard work, commitment and a rhythm with nature all have meaning.

　　These are lessons in life, a rich part of Asian culture, some of which are explained in Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching" (The Book of the Way), a guide to the art of living.

　　"Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.

　　Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power."

　　_Lao Tzu in "Tao Te Ching"

　　Thick in the Lakers-Rockets first-round playoff series, which continues Wednesday at Staples Center, Yao shows the NBA his way, his sportsmanship, his art of playing.

　　He brings to the league much more than height, multiculturalism and the strength to pose a physical challenge to the Lakers' "Most Dominant Ever" center Shaquille O'Neal.

　　Yao brings something that's not in the boxscore, not in his biography, and so rarely associated with today's superstar athlete that we often forget to look for it: humility.

　　On the court in Game 2 at Staples Center, Yao lumbered around trying to stop O'Neal, who battered him; real-life lumberjack/Lakers forward Karl Malone, who chopped at him; and others who climbed on him, leaving red splotchy marks on his smooth, pale skin.

　　Pushed, clunked in the head, given O'Neal's stiff "Diesel"-tattooed-shoulder to the cheekbones, Yao ached without complaint.

　　He didn't counter with cheap shots, retaliate with dirty play, quit trying out of frustration or make excuses to reporters after the Lakers' victory.

　　Playing in his first postseason since becoming the No.1 pick overall in the NBA draft two seasons ago, the struggling Yao had come off the court, shook his head and let the sweat fly from his spiky, black, coarse hair.

　　The Great Wall of China took a seat. On the bench.

　　He dropped next to his assistant coach, an older, wiser, creaky-kneed NBA legend named Patrick Ewing. And listened.

　　And learned.

　　Yao understands he is just a 23-year-old sophomore who can benefit from teachings.

　　After that Rockets' Game 2 defeat, Yao acknowledged he needs to be more dominant, hold his territory, use his remarkable agility to move into position to set picks, make bounce passes, launch hook shots, hit graceful turnaround jumpers, do more.

　　"Fatigue isn't an excuse. Everyone is just as tired as me. I just need to learn more," Yao said through his interpreter, Colin Pine.

　　He knows that his numbers during the playoffs are below those he ran up this season.

　　In four playoff games, he has averaged 16.3 points, 8 rebounds, 0.8 blocks, 4.3 fouls and 38.3 minutes. In 82 regular-season games, he averaged 17.5 points, 9 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, 3.3 fouls and 32.8 minutes.

　　Why?

　　Yao didn't answer immediately, his mouth a fine line, his brow twisted by careful contemplation.

　　"I need to be more aggressive. I must try more," he said to a throng of Asian journalists who collect his every utterance.

　　"Later," he said.

　　Yao knows he has a career ahead of him. He has patience. He needs time to learn to dominate. He won't beat O'Neal, 32, overnight but he will practice hard, labor, learn the footwork and regain the touch to try Wednesday.

　　A lot of the wonderkids hip-hopping from high school to the NBA, with fresh rides, new karats swinging from their lobes and a wad of Benjamins in their sagging bluejean pockets, never faced the lessons Yao learned by growing up on the other side of the world.

　　They won't wait their turn. And some of them might never learn true greatness in the making, from Yao Ming, who is teaching everyone the art of playing.